It felt like a long shot a couple of weekends ago but the Yankees actually put themselves in a position to take the division lead heading into these three games. Had Tanaka been healthy enough to start last night we may have been talking about a division race coming down to the wire these final 11 games but it most likely wouldn't have mattered. The Yankee lineup got blanked in the biggest game of the season and had had absolutely nothing for Marcus Stroman as he cruised through 7 innings.
The Yankee bullpen, once a deep and versatile group, has now become a three-man-band of reliable arms. That's why pulling Nova there in the 6th frustrated me so much. I get that he has 110 pitches. I get the lefty-lefty match-up. Let Nova finish that inning. It was his game. You want to bring in Justin Wilson there? Be my guest. But James Pazos has been pitching all year long for the fucking RailRiders. Maybe I'm nitpicking but I don't trust a guy with four career major league innings deciding one of the biggest at-bats of the year. But that was going to be the consequence of Tuesday. Not only were the odds stacked against the Yanks with Nova on the mound but the team's biggest strength was minimized by Miller's unavailability.
So the division is a wrap. It would take nothing short of a miracle to make up 3.5 games at this point in the season. Now the only thing the Yankees need to concern themselves with is winning enough games to ensure the one-game playoff is going to be in the Bronx and making sure Tanaka is healthy enough to pitch it. Of course you want to see Ellsbury continue to get his groove back, Pineda build off his recent success and Betances get back command of his fastball but all of that is moot unless the Yanks can win one game on October 6th.
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